REINCheck

[MUSIC]

VO [00:00:06] You're listening to REINCheck with Andrea Rice, Contracts and Industry Specialist, at REIN where you get the latest member news and information delivered straight from the source, REIN MLS.

[MUSIC]

Andrea Rice [00:00:20] Hello and welcome to REINCheck. I'm your host, Andrea Rice, and today we're checking in with Sales Managers Advisory Committee Member Pat Steele for a discussion on how real estate has changed over the years, how to stay relevant in an ever-changing industry, and tips for future success. Thank you so much for joining me today.

Pat Steele [00:00:40] Thank you.

Andrea Rice [00:00:43] Pat, I've had the pleasure of knowing you now for probably about seven years, ever since I first started working with SMAC. And I have to say, you have so much knowledge about the real estate industry and you always have the most interesting stories. I love talking to you. So, of course, I thought what better person to interview for an inside real look at real estate over the years than Pat Steel. Many of our listeners, I'm sure, know who you are. But for those that don't, do you mind giving us a little bit of your background, how long you've been in real estate, and how you get started?

Pat Steele [00:01:16] Okay, thank you. I began my career in Orlando, Florida, back in 1977. We were moving from Jacksonville and the agent actually recruited me. We were going to build a house a reconstruction, and I remember the gentleman's name. It was someone named Ben. And he said, Pat, why don't you go back to Jacksonville and start our principals class with Watson real estate, and then when the house is ready, you'll be ready and you can join our office. And you know, we still do things like that today. But I can tell you I'm very grateful to Ben for thinking that I would be someone who would be great for this business. We move into Virginia in 1980 and we closed on a house in August of 80 for 11.5%, and by February of 1981, the rates have gone to 19%. So if we don't think that rates can move, we don't even want to think about those numbers today. And then even in the middle of the nineties, we made the move out to Texas. So I associated with a firm there, then moved back in 1995 and now 44 years total in the business.

[00:02:30] Wow. And that is a great story. You know, I have to point out, because I did read today that the interest rates are going up again. You know, and they have been steadily going up here lately. But I think we can all be grateful that they're not at 11 or 19%.

Pat Steele [00:02:48] Exactly.

Andrea Rice [00:02:49] Wow. So what was it like as a woman selling real estate in the beginning of your career? And how has it changed?

Pat Steele [00:02:57] Well, in the early years, you know, our industry was definitely a man's industry. If you talk to some of our local people who are still out there, they started firms, you know, in the fifties and sixties or something. Basically, it was a male industry. And then when I started, it was a little bit more than half. And then we have seen it grow with, you know, women going into leadership roles. I am very blessed to work with the first woman president of the National Association of Realtors, Dorcas Helfant-Browning. I've been with her now, this is my 21st year. She was installed in Las Vegas in 1991 to serve in the 1992 term. And many of us from Hampton Roads went out there. For a lot of us, it was our first time to Las Vegas. So she received a lot of support and we were so proud of her not only being local but that she was the very first woman to still can claim that. We've had women since but she was the very first. Mmhmm. One thing that we used to talk about, particularly in the late seventies, it was a crazy line that would go around. I don't know who initiated. We'd go, Oh, who is that new lady in the office? I understand she's just going to get a commission and buy a new dining room set, work part-time, and has no interest in staying in this business. And of course, the business has changed so much because there's a cost to the business today that was not what we had in the early days. All of the as wonderful as all the technology is today, there's a huge cost for that. So it has been an eliminator in some ways for a lot of people and certainly helpful to others. But if that was the case back then, no one would have said, I'm just getting in for one transaction and getting out. You know, because that doesn't happen. What really happens to a lot of us, and maybe I would fall in that category and even in those three moves or something. Real estate just becomes just such a career that gives you so many benefits and introductions to other organizations and to people. And I always tell people it's mobile. You know, we live in Hampton Roads. It's a very mobile area. Most states will recognize in some form your license, even if you have to take more credits there in your move, you can be recognized there and in some states even go to work for a year. You know while you're completing that the rest of that education. So it is a mobile career, and especially for women, maybe [inaudible] spouses with either corporate or military.

Andrea Rice [00:05:41] That's interesting to know. I didn't know that some of those states you could even be practicing while you're getting, I think it's called reciprocity.

Pat Steele [00:05:50] Reciprocity. That's right. That's right.

Andrea Rice [00:05:51] Yeah.

Pat Steele [00:05:52] Some do give you up to a year.

Andrea Rice [00:05:54] Wow. Interesting. And you know, you have had a long and successful career in business. I think you just said 44.

Pat Steele [00:06:01] Yes, I know. Yeah.

Andrea Rice [00:06:04] And this is a business that's always changing. Can you tell us how have you managed to stay relevant and what advice would you give to new agents who are just starting out?

Pat Steele [00:06:15] Yeah, I think the thing that's changed in the business is how we deliver information. We talked about the technology. You know, when I first started, you were delivering paper everywhere, just paper everywhere. You know, you would deliver a contract through the attorney's office to the closing agent. You would pick up termites reports sometimes from that vendor's home, where maybe the spouse was the one handling all the paperwork and you would pick that maybe taped to a front door. Can you even imagine doing business like that today? And the other thing, too, and the delivery, the office, if you wrote something at 10:00 at night, you know, you didn't have a machine, you could send it through. You got in your car. And some of the fun things that we would expense because you would meet some really nice people that way is, you know, the Norfolk people and the beach people had sort of a dividing line. Newtown Road was one that I remember that neither would go any further than that at night to meet for contract deliveries and things, you know. And so, I mean, just think about that today. If you had to do that, I always said, especially living here in Hampton Roads with the waterways and things, I said, oh my goodness, it's the one who can get through the tunnel or across the bridge the fastest. Because they might get the offer. And think about if you were doing that today with 20 plus hours, you know.

Andrea Rice [00:07:37] Oh, my goodness.

Pat Steele [00:07:38] See, we can't even imagine so that the industry has completely, completely changed. It truly has. It's just completely changed. Absolutely.

Andrea Rice [00:07:48] And I know those of you listening, cannot see but I am just smiling because I'm just envisioning like these agents, like rushing.

Pat Steele [00:07:55] And we would.

Andrea Rice [00:07:56] Yeah.

Pat Steele [00:07:56] We truly did. We did. Because, you know. Yes, we didn't have a market like today. You know, we didn't even have that when the rates fell from the 1991. I mean, in 81. In 86, the rate dropped during the summer for three weeks of 86, the rate stayed 8%. Think about that all you guys out there because you see, we're not there at all. That market was an 8.5% market, but it fell to eight. And if you had all your documentations ready. Maybe you could get that property closed. But that was really, you know, what was happening, you know, at that time. I was the salesperson of the year for HRRA that year in 86. And I said, if you could read, you could sell, if you could read you could buy. We had 4,600 realtors at that time. And I understand now we're approaching that 5,500 at HRRA. And I say we have camped out in this market at the highest level that I recall in being in this market in the 40 years I've lived here.

Andrea Rice [00:09:01] Right. Real estate is something that you obviously love. So tell me, what is it about the world of real estate that speaks to you the most and keeps you coming back?

Pat Steele [00:09:11] Well, you know, the first thing I'm going to talk about is a phrase that I've used for a long time. We are peers and competitors at the same time. You know, I could have a listing that I could have competed with you for that listing. You may bring the buyer. I might bring the buyer to one that [inaudible] even competed to get the listing. Not only just being competitors in the marketplace for the entire market, but we could have actually competed on the same property sometimes. But if we would just remember that we are peers really first then competitors, then I think everybody respects everybody. We are one family. And an office needs to work the same way. You know, I'm a big sports fan. Sports, football is my real thing. I'm excited about going with ODU games and I already have my tickets purchased for this year. And I've sort of always in that arena like front office to run on like a team. And everybody's not a quarterback, and everybody's not a running back, everybody's not a wide receiver, but we're going to have all of them on the team and then they need to work together. And what I got so excited about this year, since we're doing this after the Final Four is basically watching for it maybe more than ever this year, the basketball games, because everything came down to the last minute. Sort of like how we work these contracts. We got people out there waiting to the wee hours of the morning to find out if they even in the running to purchase a house. So you have to teamwork. It's just so important that these games this year came down to the last minute. And you couldn't be selfish about holding that ball, because if you did that, you might not make that three-pointer that was going to save the game. And you know, we have all that those aspects in really in our business because it's competitive. It is fun. We want our clients to be served at their highest level. And so I really I've always looked at it that way, and that does make it fun. So a years ago I did something called Monday Morning Coaching, and those kinds of things just help to inspire. And when you see people today that some don't realize what they are capable of doing. It was maybe they've just always dreamed small or something. Going back to my first broker in Florida. My first broker believed in me and supported me, and I carry that as a foundation today. Without that, I don't know that I would have had the success and really known what was possible. You know, in a career like that. So today, if we can help people to see more in themselves than they have seen, and there again, that comes back to the coaching world. When you interview a coach, you're going to hear them say, I saw more in that young lady or that young man than they realized that they had. And if we can do that for other people, that's just such a huge reward. Such a huge reward.

Andrea Rice [00:12:23] I love that. And, you know, you said think small, you know, and that's something that I think not even in just like real estate, but like every aspect of your life, sometimes you have to remember to think big and it helps to have people who encourage you to do that.

Pat Steele [00:12:39] That's right. Absolutely. That's exactly right. The real joy, I think, comes too for me, especially now with the [inaudible] here to see people who when they started out their careers as an agent. I'm not sure how many of them or us. You know, I've had my broker's license since 1983 and went into management in 1987. But there are many who may have just said, I'll always be an agent. I don't really want to be in the sales side of it. But then one day, you know, they decide, well, they'll get their broker's license and then they go into management. And then we have a lot of broker-owners out here who certainly may not have had that as their goal, but they have just been so successful. They have taken the training that they received, wherever that was. And I really get excited and I love to sit down and meet with them. And when sometimes they'll call me and especially these young, young people. Tet 40 and under today. I just some exciting agents out there that have gone into management gone into ownership and you'll hear them. They'll quote the things that they were told like, well, you know, that young man came in and, you know, he really has no idea about what he might be able to achieve. But if he'll just really devote himself to the knowledge and the skills and all that, then they can become whoever they want to become. Helping others is really the key. It's really the key. And I really hope that the wave of the new generation of agents learn to do something that we had to do back in those early days. We had, as we said at the beginning here, we had to meet them face to face, you know, and the better ones even set that face to face meeting up with a phone call to say, oh, you're just going to love this little family. You know, today they talk to us. Should we write love notes or not love notes but 40 something years ago, we were just telling you how great they were and where they were coming from and how many children and what their pets were. And I could even name names today of agents who I knew if they were the ones calling about their buyer I was going to have a life story before I actually met them in a parking lot of someplace between Norfolk and Virginia Beach. But you know that it did help us in presenting because you did have a story to tell. And how many times have we heard people say, oh, we really chose that couple because, and that brings us to another great point about these relationships. In today's world, if you've got 20 offers today, we hear agents say, you know, we've worked with this person before. We know we can trust them. They have their knowledge and skills. Trust is the big factor. Number one really even in NAR that basically they may choose and sort of speak to their sellers about choosing things. So keeping that reputation and working well with others is just so important. The reviews come in and I read one just this week that said the buyer was talking about the fact that everyone in the marketplace seemed to love to work with that particular agent. That's something that you want to aspire to, to have that reputation in the marketplace. To work well with others.

Andrea Rice [00:16:06] Yes. Yes.

Pat Steele [00:16:07] Work well with others. That's right.

Andrea Rice [00:16:08] Yeah. It's so important.

Pat Steele [00:16:10] Right.

Andrea Rice [00:16:12] Pat, thank you so much for sharing your experience with us today. But before we sign off, do you have any parting thoughts you would like to share or maybe a high point in your career or an interesting experience that you've had in real estate?

Pat Steele [00:16:24] Well, and in the role, you know, we have, I think today it is that we enjoy I think we enjoy seeing the success of others. But let's even remember too that it's our role to help bring those up, whether that's in an organization or inside your company, to bring up those who would aspire to be in leadership and to maybe take on roles as well like we had talked about earlier. And I do credit, like I said, my start with a good broker, you know, just being interested in my success. And I've been fortunate over the years to receive many, many awards. And I would say that in 2015 when I presented the Lifetime Achievement Award, that was just quite, quite an honor, just quite an honor. And the other thing to talk about, too, is we believe in this business. I still remain excited about this business after all these years because we can see how far we've come as an industry. We are now back up to 1,600,000 realtors. I can remember when we did have those high interest rates in the market sort of crash some, we were down to 750,000 and then we build up to a million [inaudible] 600,000. That's a lot of people. And I think Virginia has 36, maybe thousand and 600 agents right now realtors in our marketplace. So we remain excited. And if we could say anything, it's the fact that when we see second and third-generation families today and we have a lot of those. We have some serving on our SMAC committee, that second and third-generation young men and young women, we're so proud of them because they're our future. The mindsets are different and we can learn from each other. And there's nothing better than sitting down with that conversation and just talking about the experiences maybe that we've had, but to listen to how some of the younger people approach a situation on issue today so we can all learn from each other. So it really is still just an exciting thing. It was it's never about how as people used to say, oh, I love to win houses. And I would think, uh oh, maybe they need to go work down the street. Because basically it's about people. This is a people business. And I believe that as long as we are trustworthy and hone our skills, we will never be replaced by a robot.

Andrea Rice [00:19:08] I agree. Yes. Pat, thank you so much. I always love listening to you because it's like oh like it's just so motivating and inspiring. And, you know, I always think when you were talking, I was thinking about when people say, do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life. And I feel like you just absolutely love this business and it's clear it comes through. And I think that's why it's so fun talking to you about it. So thank you, Pat. I appreciate your time. I appreciate your expertize and everything that you shared with us today. I think you're just amazing. I want to thank all of you for listening. And of course, if you have any suggestions for our Sales Managers Advisory Committee, please submit those to SMAC@reininc.comand we will make sure that your suggestion gets on an upcoming meeting agenda. Thank you and have a great rest of your day.

[MUSIC]

VO [00:20:05] You've been listening to REINCheck with Andrea Rice. Stay in the know from those who know. Delivered straight from the source, REIN MLS.

[MUSIC]